AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
7 
and Dougherty, (one of the hunters to the expedition,) being 
in search of Deer on Boyer River, one of the tributaries 
of the Missouri, discovered a fine buck, which was wounded 
by the latter in the shoulder, the animal, however, still 
being able to run, was again fired at by Mr. Peale and 
wounded in the fore leg of the opposite side; even this did 
not wholly disable it, although it so considerably retarded 
its progress, that they thought they should be able to run it 
down and then dispatch it; for the sake of greater speed 
they laid down their rifles, and pursued it, armed only 
with their knives. On coming up with the animal, it im- 
mediately stood at bay, and for a long time frustrated every 
attempt to wound it. Mr. Dougherty then determined, 
whilst Mr. Peale engaged the attention of the Deer, to 
throw himself under it, and in this position inflict the fatal 
stroke. This he attempted, but the infuriated animal, 
instead of leaping over him, as was expected, turned on 
him, and wounded him with its hoofs, in the manner 
already spoken of; whilst thus employed, however, Mr. 
Peale closed with it, and was fortunate enough to disable 
it so completely, as to rescue his companion from the im- 
minent danger to which he had so rashly exposed himself. 
Such was the force with which the animal struck, even 
when thus severely wounded, that Mr. Dougherty’s 
dothes, including a thick blanket coat, were completely 
cut through, and a wound inflicted on his side. 
The Common Deer is said by our hunters to display 
great antipathy to rattle snakes, and to destroy them by 
leaping on them, and cutting them to pieces with their 
sharp hoofs; this fact, extraordinary as it may appear, is 
too well authenticated to be doubted. Col. Keatinge, in his 
travels in Spain, relates that the European stag has the same 
antipathy to vipers, and kills great numbers of them in a 
similar manner. 
The Deer is sometimes domesticated, which can be 
readily done, when it is taken young; it soon becomes 
attached to its captor and will learn to follow him like a 
dog. When they arrive at maturity, however, it is always 
dangerous to approach the bucks during the rutting season, 
as they will then attack every one, indiscriminately. 
The flesh of the Common Deer is well known to the 
epicures of our large cities, in the autumn and winter, at 
which times it is brought down in considerable quantities. 
This animal also affords a valuable article of commerce, in 
its skin, so well known under the name of buckskin. 
These are in great demand, and we can form some com- 
parative ideas of the aggregate number, and great extension 
of the species, from the quantity brought to our markets. 
Pennant states that as early as 1764, 25,027 skins were 
shipped to England from New York and Philadelphia. 
Prom the number annually destroyed, and the rapid settle- 
ment of the country, they are becoming much less common 
than they were a few years since, although their destruction 
during the breeding season is prohibited by law. This may 
preserve the race among us for a short time, but cannot 
prevent their final extermination. Kalm says, that an 
Indian, who was living in 1748, killed many Deer where 
Philadelphia now stands. The Indians prepare these skins 
for their own use, by scraping off the hair and fleshy mat- 
ter, and then smearing them with the brains of the animal 
until they feel soft and spongy, and lastly, suspending 
them over a fire made of rotten wood till they are well 
impregnated with the smoke. 
THE ANT-LION. 
The observations of the continental naturalists have 
made known to us a pitfall constructed by an insect, the 
details of whose operations are exceedingly curious — we 
refer to the grub of the Ant-lion ( Myrmeleon formica- 
rius ,) which, though marked by Dr. Turton and Mr. 
Stewart as British, has not (at least of late years) been 
found in England. As it is not, however, uncommon 
in France and Switzerland, it is probable it may yet be 
discovered in some spot hitherto unexplored, and if so, it 
will well reward the search of the curious. 
The Ant-lion grub being of a grey colour, and having 
its body composed of rings, is not unlike a woodlouse 
( Oniscus ,) though it is larger, more triangular, has only 
six legs, and most formidable jaws, in form of a reaping- 
hook, or a pair of calliper compasses. These jaws, how- 
ever, are not for masticating, but are perforated and tubu- 
lar, for the purpose of sucking the juices of ants upon 
which it feeds. Vallisnieri was, therefore, mistaken, as 
Reaumur well remarks, when he supposed that he had 
discovered its mouth. Its habits require that it should walk 
backwards, and this is the only species of locomotion which 
it can perform. Even this soft of motion it executes very 
slowly; and were it not for the ingenuity of its stratagems, 
it would fare but sparingly, since its chief food consists of 
ants, whose activity and swiftness of foot would otherwise 
render it impossible for it to make a single capture. Nature, 
however, in this, as in nearly every other case, has given 
a compensating power to the individual animal, to balance 
its privations. The Ant-lion is slow — but it is extremely 
sagacious ; — it cannot follow its prey, but it can entrap it. 
The snare which the grub of the Ant-lion employs con- 
sists of a funnel-shaped excavation formed in loose sand, 
at the bottom of which it lies in wait for the ants that 
chance to stumble over the margin, and cannot, from the 
looseness of the walls, gain a sufficient footing to effect 
